Preparing your stay in Saint-Quentin
Please, find below all information needed to prepare your venue at Saint-Quentin. If you need more, do not hesitate to contact us. Our purpose is to make your stay as pleasant as possible.
Saint-Quentin is a small town. So, very few services and shops have English speaking people, and it may become troublesome when you arrive in an unknown place. We hope that this page will help you to organize and enjoy your stay in our nice city.
Note: before doing any reservation on the internet, note carefully the name of the city. Some other towns in France hold the same name with little differences. To be sure to select the right city, choose: Saint-Quentin (or St Quentin) [the city], Aisne (postal code: 02) [the province], Picardie [the region].
Location
The courses take place at the Geopolymer Institute building. See the Access Map page . You will find in this page all detailed information needed to come to our place from the airport, by train or by car.
Hotels
We provide a list a selected hotels. You can reserve your rooms on the internet.
There are 2 categories of Hotels. The ones near our place, and the others in the city center.
Hotels near the Geopolymer Institute
They are built in modern buildings, most of them are low-cost hotels but with all the comfort you need. However, because it is a bit far from the city center, it is best to rent a car, or, if you don’t mind, to take the bus, or take a taxi to go to the city center (less than 5 € per course). But these hotels are at a walking distance to the Geopolymer Institute. You will walk 30 minutes to go from the Geopolymer Institute to the city center. See the map at Google Map
| Hotel Name | website | price | services |
| B&B Hotel | website | 35€ | Price for 1 or 2, our best choice, free wifi, Air conditioning, breakfast 5.5 €, free car park. |
| Campanile | website | 56€ | Price for 1 or 2, our best choice for higher quality, larger rooms, free wifi, restaurant, breakfast 8 €, free car park. |
| Akena | website | 36€ | Price for 1 or 2, wifi not free (but planned), breakfast 5.5 €, free car park. |
| Première Classe | website | 33€ | Price for 1 to 3, low-cost hotel, breakfast 4.5 €, free car park. |
Hotels at the city center
Hotels at the city center are convenient because every services and shops are at a walking distance. You will walk 30 minutes to go from the city center to the Geopolymer Institute. You can either take a taxi (less than 5 € per course) or take the bus number 6 to go to the Geopolymer Institute. Hotels in the city center are at around 15 minutes from the train station. At the train station, you can either take a taxi or take the bus number 5 (the one in front of the station) and get out at the city center stop (called Basilique) (5 minutes ride). See the map at Google Map
| Hotel Name | website | price | services |
| Ibis | website | 63€ | a good quality, famous hotel brand. International standard. No bad surprise. wifi at 5€/h (price list), breakfast 8 €, not free car park. |
| Mémorial | website | 65€ | high quality independent hotel, our best choice in terms of quality and service, larger rooms, wifi 3€ per day, breakfast 8 €, call for reservation, staffs speak english, free car park. |
| France-Angleterre | website | 35€ | free wifi, breakfast 5 €, free car park. |
| Le Florence | website | 36€ | free wifi, breakfast 6.5 €, free car park. |
Bus:
It is convenient de take the bus if your hotel is at the city center and go to the Geopolymer Institute. The bus number 6 is schedule every 20 minutes from 7:00 to around 19:45, and it is a 15 minutes drive. The bus stop for bus number 6 near the Geopolymer Institute is called “Archimède”. The stop for the city center is called “Basilique”.
For hotels near the Geopolymer Institute (except for Hotel Akena which is in front of bus number 6 stop “Archimède”), the bus number 4 will drive you to the city center every 30 minutes, and it is a 20 minutes drive. However, from the city center to the hotels, there is a bus number 4 every 30 minutes but it is a 35 minutes drive because it takes another way. The bus stop for bus number 4 in front of the hotels is called “Charles Naudin”. The stop for the city center is called “Basilique”.
A one way ticket costs 1.2 € (you buy it from the driver). Ticket valid 1 hour. Do not stamp the ticket a second time, just show it to the driver.
You can buy a set of 10 tickets for 8.5 € (called in French: “carnet dix tickets de bus”). You buy them at the information booth (look for “information - Accueil” panel near the entrance, at the Auchan Hypermarket and Intermarché Supermarket, at the café “Carré d’As 2″ in the city center (See Google Map), and at the train station café.
Download here the bus lines map.
Car renting companies:
There are 3 car renting companies in Saint-Quentin: Hertz , Avis and Rent A Car
Taxi:
You will find them in front of the train station, or ask at the hotel reception desk.
List of selected restaurants
We have selected some restaurants where you can find a menu in English or where the waiters are willing to welcome you and translate the menu for you. There are other restaurants, but the staff may only speaks French, you will have to ask. The average price at a French restaurant for a full course meal (starters, main dish, desert and drinks) is around 12 €. The Flunch restaurant, at Auchan shoping center, is the cheapest, around 6 € for one dish (self service, take only one main dish and get unlimited vegetables for free and free tap water).
Shopping
The biggest shopping center of the Region is called “Auchan”. People living in hotels near the Geopolymer Institute will not miss it.
The city center is full of small shops. There are two small supermarkets for your everyday needs: Super U and Monoprix. There are also many banks so you can take money at any ATM machine with your credit card. All major international cards are accepted everywhere.
If you want to buy some local specialties, there is a fine grocery and chocolate store called “Jean Trogneux” on the right of the city hall.
Tourism information:
The weather:
| months | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| Avg. Max. | 6°C | 6°C | 10°C | 15°C | 20°C | 23°C | 27°C | 27°C | 23°C | 15°C | 10°C | 7°C |
Some tourism information about the region can be found on this website
Tourist Office:
For more information about your stay in France, visit in Paris, and in the city of Saint-Quentin in particular, please, ask the Tourist Office. They are at your disposal to help you for a pleasant stay, and they speak different languages!
Tourist Office of Saint-Quentin
Espace Victor Bash
27 rue Victor Bash, BP 80
02100 Saint-Quentin, France
Tel.: +33 (0)3 23 670 500 Fax: +33 (0)3 23 677 871
E-mail – Website
A trip to Paris:
You can take the train to Paris, and spend the whole day there. Paris is at 1.20 hour from Saint-Quentin. See this website parisinfo.com . If you wish to stay the weekend in Paris, hotels are usually between 75 – 100 € per night, with few chances to find cheaper.
Below is the train timetable for the week (1 means train working on Saturday, 2 on Sunday). This time table may change. Please, check it at the SNCF website (the national train company): French Railway Company’s SNCF web site.
ST QUENTIN 06:00 to PARIS 07:41 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 06:31 to PARIS 07:50
ST QUENTIN 06:58 to PARIS 08:20
ST QUENTIN 07:32 to PARIS 08:53 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 08:12 to PARIS 09:53 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 11:32 to PARIS 12:50 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 12:10 to PARIS 13:50 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 15:33 to PARIS 16:50 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 16:32 to PARIS 17:50 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 17:11 to PARIS 18:50 (1, 2)
ST QUENTIN 18:34 to PARIS 19:50 (2)
ST QUENTIN 19:36 to PARIS 20:56 (only saturday, 2)
ST QUENTIN 19:56 to PARIS 21:14
ST QUENTIN 20:32 to PARIS 21:50 (only sunday)
ST QUENTIN 21:27 to PARIS 22:44 (only sunday)
Return:
PARIS 06:40 to ST QUENTIN 08:16
PARIS 07:34 to ST QUENTIN 08:48 (1, 2)
PARIS 08:37 to ST QUENTIN 09:51 (2)
PARIS 10:37 to ST QUENTIN 11:53 (2)
PARIS 12:37 to ST QUENTIN 13:52 (1)
PARIS 14:37 to ST QUENTIN 16:05 (1, 2)
PARIS 16:37 to ST QUENTIN 17:52 (1, 2)
PARIS 17:37 to ST QUENTIN 18:52 (1, 2)
PARIS 18:37 to ST QUENTIN 19:57 (2)
PARIS 19:37 to ST QUENTIN 20:53 (1, 2)
PARIS 21:04 to ST QUENTIN 22:34 (2)
PARIS 21:34 to ST QUENTIN 23:34 (only saturday)
PARIS 22:34 to ST QUENTIN 00:19 (2)
The name of the station is “Paris, Gare du Nord”. Once you arrived, you can take the Metro (subway) to any places. The Metro is very convenient. When you come back to Saint-Quentin, if you are coming from the Metro (subway), go upstairs to the ground level, and follow the signs “Trains Grandes Lignes – Intercity Trains”.
The price of a round trip ticket is around 40 €. But, there are some opportunities to get a reduced fare (if you are under 25 years old, if stay one night, if you are traveling together with another person, there is usually a 25% off).
DO NOT FORGET TO STAMP YOUR TICKET BEFORE BOARDING THE TRAIN. There is a yellow stamp machines everywhere.
Mobile phone, internet access, cheap pre-paid cards:
At the Geopolymer Institute, you will have a free access to the internet on one of our computer or with our Wifi access for your laptop.
You have a mobile phone, and want to use it in France? There are 3 providers: Orange, SFR (Vodafone), and Bouygues Telecom. Ask your local mobile phone provider if you can use your mobile phone with the same number in France, and with which French companies they have signed a partnership. Beware: phone calls are usually very expensive for foreign subscribers.
It is sometime cheaper to buy a prepaid card for mobile phone. We can give you assistance in buying a prepaid card for mobile phone in France (you will have a new phone number by using a new SIM chip in your phone, in order to use these prepaid cards). Do not hesitate to ask us.
If you need to call home, you can also use a cheap prepaid card system with a regular phone. We have selected this company www.LesMinutes.com , because of its very low fairs between France and the World.
Emergency Call:
Dial 112 everywhere in Europe (Police, Emergency Rescue, Fire fighters, …). Toll free number with any phones, even mobile phones.
In case of trouble:
We will give you the name and phone number of someone in charge of the organization. If you have any trouble with the local authority, health problem (need some medicine), you will call this person first.